My 20 miler - 2/2/08

I had a considerably easier time making it through my 20-miler yesterday than my 18-miler a week ago. Unlike last week, I'm still able to walk, go up and down stairs and don't feel like death--all very good signs. The run was a bit slower than I would have liked, but I'm actually quite good with that.

About every 45 seconds to a minute I consciously told myself to slow down. I tend to run too fast which just tires me out. I made a deliberate effort to ease back on my speed and I know that helped me finish... as for my time, well....

Some differences from last week:

- No hills this week. A HUGE difference.
- I ate some toast with peanut butter and a Clif bar an hour before I went out.
- I stopped at a convenience store halfway through to get a big thing of Gatorade, so I was well hydrated.
- I slowed down.

The less than fun parts this week:

- The ice had melted so every once in a while, I landed in a huge puddle of water and completely soaked my shoes. In fact, that happened about 2 miles into the run, which was not a good sign. My feet were soaked by the time I got home. There's something to be said for carrying weights on your feet.
- My iPod is still giving me problems. It screwed me out of 1.5 miles this time.

That said, this week was much, much better. I'm very happy to be up on a Sunday morning not very sore. The even better part: my extreme overindulgence for the Super Bowl this afternoon won't hurt at all since I burned over 2,500 calories yesterday and had mahi and shrimp for dinner--beautiful.

More on the calories in the next post...